Chapter 7: The Car Thief
Influenced by movies like *The Godfather* and various mafia films, along with legendary figures such as Al Capone and the Five Families, it's easy for people to get the wrong impression—that Italians had it easy in America.
But in fact, the reality was quite the opposite.
For a long time in American history, the least welcomed white ethnic group was not the Irish, as many might think, but the Italians.
In almost every gangster film, the mob bosses are portrayed as Italians, which in itself is a form of discrimination.
In the movie *Green Book*, for example, the police refer to the Italian protagonist as "half a Black man," which perfectly illustrates the awkward position Italians were in at the time. "Half a Black man" was a derogatory term used by white Anglo-Saxon Americans to describe Italians, a label that stuck with them from the 19th century to the mid-20th century, spanning nearly a century.
So why did immigrants from Italy, once the cultural center of Europe, find themselves in such a predicament?
The reason is simple: most Italian immigrants who came to America were from southern Italy.
Just like the divide between the northern and southern parts of the United States, Italy also had its own north-south divide.
Northern Italy was industrially developed and therefore wealthier, while the south, with its mountainous terrain and fewer resources, was much poorer.
Wealthy Italians from the north, if they chose to emigrate, would generally not pick the United States. Instead, they preferred South America.
Since the wave of Italian immigration came later than those of other European nations, the resources available in America were already largely distributed by the time they arrived. Thus, wealthier Italians chose to head to South America, where they could hire indigenous people and Black laborers to farm the land, while they themselves could be the bosses.
On the other hand, poor Italians, lacking the capital, were forced to migrate to wealthier North America to work for already established Americans.
In other words, the Italians who came to America were mostly impoverished and poorly educated.
As Southern Europeans, Italians were also of Latin descent, making their appearance distinctly different from the Anglo-Saxons.
Moreover, Italians tended to live in close-knit communities, were often industrial laborers, had low education levels, and were generally at the bottom of society—factors that easily led to negative stereotypes.
All of this resulted in Italians being relegated to doing the lowest kinds of work and being unable to break into the upper echelons of society for a long time.
The Italians weren’t the only group to face such hardships. Their neighbors in Chinatown suffered the same fate.
During the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, a specific immigration law was even enacted in 1924 to target Italians.
Though less famous, this law had an impact on Italian immigrants that was no less significant than the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Naturally, this led to a great deal of resentment among a significant portion of the Italian population.
What could they do?
It was obvious—they turned to organized crime.
The Mafia, already a part of the Italian system, was simply transplanted to America, and it flourished beyond expectation. In addition to the discrimination they already faced, Italians now acquired the added stigma of being associated with organized crime. They were feared, but also further ostracized.
It was under this reputation that Josh Kane couldn't help but feel a sense of dread when approaching Little Italy.
However, after much hesitation, Josh still decided to enter.
After all, he had just bought a car at noon, and by the afternoon it had been stolen. He had never been so humiliated in his previous life.
But before stepping into Little Italy, Josh first adjusted his collar to cover his face and then walked into a gun shop across the street.
Well, having a lot of gun stores around did come in handy sometimes.
Since he was about to enter the infamous Italian district, Josh felt that having only an M1911 wouldn't be enough. He figured he might as well get a couple of Thompson submachine guns and a shotgun.
Even though Josh was a time traveler and hadn’t been a soldier in his past life, he still knew how to use guns.
Whether it was a submachine gun, an automatic rifle, or a bolt-action rifle, Josh had experience with them. During a trip to Russia in his previous life, he had spent quite a bit of money at a shooting club and even gone hunting in the Far East.
In fact, it wasn’t just in his past life. Josh’s previous incarnation had also been taken hunting by his father before his father’s death, though they had only used rifles.
So, while he couldn’t claim to be an expert, he at least knew how to handle a gun.
Before long, Josh selected the Mafia’s favorite, the Chicago Typewriter—also known as the Thompson submachine gun. In addition to that, he picked up an M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, a shotgun, and the corresponding ammunition.
He also bought a gun case.
All of this cost Josh nearly two hundred dollars.
After purchasing the weapons, he carried the gun case into a deserted alley, assembled the firearms, loaded them, and stashed both the weapons and the case into his system warehouse.
Only after completing all of this did Josh leisurely walk into Little Italy.
Perhaps because it was daytime, the streets of Little Italy, though somewhat dirty and smelling of sewage, were actually quite deserted. There weren’t any idle thugs around, and it didn’t seem as chaotic as the black neighborhoods of later times.
Although many Italians were involved in organized crime, like their neighbors in Chinatown, the majority were hardworking, bottom-tier laborers who spent their days focused on making a living.
It was only at night that things tended to get more chaotic.
So all of Josh’s preparations were essentially unnecessary.
After patrolling two streets without finding his car, Josh began to feel a little discouraged. It seemed the thief had merely passed through Little Italy.
However, just as he was about to give up, he suddenly spotted a car's rear end sticking out from the entrance of an old warehouse in the distance.
Josh looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before walking toward the warehouse.
As he got closer, he could make out the full rear of the car, with a conspicuous scratch running across it.
At that moment, he also heard voices coming from inside the warehouse.
"Listen, Joe, this is just an old Ford from over ten years ago. Even on the second-hand market, it's worth no more than two hundred. I still have to deal with some issues, so the best I can offer is fifty bucks for the parts. If you’re not satisfied, go find someone else!" A raspy voice with a thick Italian accent said.
"Come on, Mike, you know how hard it is to find work these days. Just give me ten more bucks, what do you say?" A slick voice responded.
Carefully approaching the warehouse, Josh was able to get a clear view of the situation inside.
There were two men—one was a middle-aged man, his head balding in the Mediterranean style, with oil stains all over him. The other was a short, slightly chubby young man.
From their conversation, it was easy to tell that the young man was the car thief, while the middle-aged man specialized in dismantling and selling stolen cars.
The various car parts scattered around the warehouse further confirmed that this place was a black market car chop shop.
Apart from Josh’s old Ford, there was another car parked inside.
Josh’s gaze was quickly drawn to it.
It was none other than the legendary Cadillac V16.
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